BRACEBRIDGE – Police say a man has been charged with impaired driving after a vehicle hauling a trailer with a mini-excavator on it left the road and flipped in the middle of a snowstorm.
Bracebridge OPP were dispatched at around 2:35 p.m. yesterday after calls about the incident on Highway 11 South near Muskoka Road 117, police said in a news release.
Officers arrived in the white-out conditions and subsequently arrested and charged William Chepurnyj, 33, of Sprucedale, Ont., with impaired operation of a motor vehicle.
He is scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge on Jan. 9. His driver's license has been suspended for 90 days and his vehicle has been impounded, police said.
None of the allegations have been tested in court and Chepurnyj is considered innocent unless proven guilty.
Police said winter weather "had arrived in force" yesterday and offers were responding to a number of collisions.
"Driving conditions can change quickly during the winter months with unexpected white out conditions and icy roads it is imperative that drivers are in a condition to be attentive and focus on their job of getting to their destinations safely," police said.
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